Single Wife

May 12, 2003
Most men who leave their wives have the courtesy to (at least) leave a note, but not journalist Laz Brookman. At the start of this charming first novel, he casually leaves his New York apartment one morning and never returns: "He left as if he were going... to buy the Sunday Times
(although they had it delivered) or to walk the dog (but they had none)." Anxious to save face and preserve the precarious normality of her life, and certain that he will soon return—mysterious several-day-long disappearing acts not being uncommon with her husband—Grace Brookman secretly begins living two lives, Laz's and her own. For the housekeeper's benefit, she rumples up the sheets on his side of the bed; for the neighbors', she blasts his favorite CDs. The absent Laz lurks on the periphery of Grace's life: a friend remarks that she has seen Laz being interviewed on TV, and others casually mention having received e-mail from him. It soon becomes apparent to Grace that even when her husband was physically present, he was keeping enormous secrets and problems from her—and that she now must step in to solve them, all the while keeping up her elaborate pretense. This imaginative and affecting debut is full of insightful characterizations and sharp, incisive language. Against Grace's constant awareness of her loss of Laz, the interplay of complex dynamics among the main players in her upper-middle-class New York life—her Scrabble-obsessed parents, their charming and dysfunctional friends the Sugarmans and her too-perceptive friend Kane—take on a tender, luminous intensity. Even better, Solomon knows how to confound her readers' preconceptions even as she carries her captivating premise to a surprising denouement. Gripping and dreamy, this tale will please fans of Margaret Atwood and Alice Hoffman, and win Solomon her own legion of readers. Agent, Irene Skolnick. (June 12)Forecast:There's a whiff of Woody Allen to Solomon's spot-on Manhattan settings, and handselling in New York (as well as to New York-ophiles around the country) could net excellent results.

June 15, 2003
Grace's husband, Laz, has run away from home again. In the past, he has always returned within a few days, but this time the days stretch into weeks and months. Grace has been advised not to ask questions-just live with it-so she spends her days covering for Laz. She takes coffee to the doorman in secret. She tells her parents he's lecturing out of town. She tells their friends he's traveling. She rumples his side of the bed so the cleaning woman won't know he's gone. During his absence, Grace discovers much she didn't know about Laz. Eventually, she does what she must and rediscovers herself. When Laz finally comes home, Grace finds that she can be her own person without him. First novelist Solomon tells a funny and bizarre story that is both hard to believe and hard to put down, with characters who are real, almost tangible. She captures the essence of the struggle for self. Recommended for all popular fiction collections.-Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2003
Employing a seemingly effortless, breezy style, first-novelist Solomon speaks with panache to the issue of commitment. Manhattanite Grace Brookman is exhausted from attempting to cover up the fact that her husband has left. Laz has done this before, but he has never been gone so long. She meticulously plants evidence to hide the fact of his disappearance from the cleaning lady and has penciled in a ready-made list of excuses in her day planner to explain his absence at her parents' regularly scheduled, theme dinner parties. In fact, it's during "Hibachi Night" in the Bali room, after a scorched dinner and a taxing game of Scrabble, that Grace decides she needs to take a more proactive stance toward her husband's disappearance. She rendezvouses with her oldest friend and jettisons her pink princess coat for a vintage leopard jacket. She takes up crocheting and rekindles her interest in sculpting. Pretty soon, she begins to realize that she is the one who has allowed herself to disappear within her marriage. A witty, accomplished debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)